Separation of titanium from iron in hydrochloric solution by solvent extraction using tributyl phosphate

One of titanium extraction methods from ilmenite (FeTiO3) through hydrometallurgical route is by leaching in hydrochloric acid. However, in this process, iron contained in the ilmenite mineral dissolves in large quantities. In this study, solvent extraction (SX) experiments using Tributyl Phosphate (TBP) as extractant was carried out to separate titanium and iron in pregnant leach solution resulted from Ilmenite leaching process using hydrochloric acid. The variables studied in the solvent extraction experiments are temperature, volume ratio of organic solution to aqueous solution (O/A), concentration of TBP (v/v), and extraction time. Based on Taguchi and ANOVA analysis, the experimental results showed that all variables of extraction have significant effect on the separation factor of iron and titanium, with the following order of contribution: O/A (44.72%), temperature (21.08%), time (20.27%), and TBP concentration (13.80%). The optimum condition of the experiment was obtained at 25 ±2°C, O/A 1, TBP concentration 90% and contact time of 15 minutes, with iron extraction of 99.99%, titanium extraction 1.84%, and separation factor of iron-titanium (βFe-Ti) of 394,185. Meanwhile, the optimum condition for stripping was obtained at room temperature by using distilled water as stripping agent at A/O 4/1 for 30 minutes that resulted in Fe stripping of 91.6%.